On Friday 14th June 2019, Children Heard and Seen and MyTime jointly hosted the first children’s voice conference for children with a parent in prison, ‘Our Time To Be Heard‘. The conference was held in the iconic Churchill Rooms at Westminster, and was attended by MPs, policy makers, Peers, academics and journalists. It was entirely devised by the children, who wrote and presented their own speeches, read out poetry they had written.
The children got the chance to interview HMP Staffordshire’s governor Ralph Lubkowski, with insightful questions such as “Why aren’t there more family visits?”. Also the opportunity to interview two journalists from the BBC with grilling questions such as “Why does a person’s face, address, second name need to be in the papers? Why does it have to backfire on the children and everyone who knows the person?”. The conference was a great success and brought together children from around the UK who have a parent in prison, supported by ourselves, MyTime (Liverpool), Nepacs (Durham) and Families Outside (Scotland).
At the end of the conference, the children announced seven calls to action. They identified that they need to be supported, they need to be heard, seen, and have their voices reflected in policy.
There is currently no policy in place which supports children with a parent. This conference allowed the children to discuss what should be enforced in national policy to increase their mental health, wellbeing and generally benefit their lives and the lives of other children with a parent in prison. These are seven calls to action decided by children. They are ready for change.
They want to be heard:
1: Currently when people are sent to prison and it is reported in the media, they print the person’s street name and town. This leaves the remaining family and children extremely vulnerable. We know of families who have had to move due to the abuse they have received after their addresses were published in local and sometimes national press. In Norway, the press are not allowed to print the addresses of offenders if they have children, why can we not do the same in the UK?
2: This will allow children to say a proper goodbye to their parent before the end of a visit, which will reduce stress and trauma not only for the child, but also the prisoner.
3: Family Days are used as a reward for people in prison who have an ‘enhanced status’, meaning people who obey the prison rules. This means that not all children are offered family day visits, and are further punished by not being allowed to have contact with their parent as a result of their parents behaviour. These are often held back as punishment to the prisoner, resulting in more punishment for the children. This approach focuses on the parent in prison, punishing children further for actions that are out of their control.
4: We hear many stories about children being present when their parents are arrested, often after having their houses raided which causes huge distress and trauma for the children. We even know children who have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which had been attributed in part to frequent Police raids when they were small children.
5: Pupil Premium was set up to improve the attainment of disadvantaged children. All Looked After children and children with a parent in the armed forces are eligible for Pupil Premium. We feel that children with a parent in prison are as disadvantaged as these groups and should therefore be eligible, regardless of income. Changing this would give schools more money to support children with a parent in prison.
6: There are an estimated 312,000 children in the UK with a parent in prison. However there is no record of these children or where they live. Maybe this would make it easier to identify this invisible group and give them support.
7: Our last call to action is something all the young people at the conference felt strongly about. They feel fortunate to be supported by ourselves, MyTime, Families Outside and Nepacs and want all children with a parent in prison to have support in their community. There is a desperate lack of funding in this area and very little specialised support available. We believe supporting children affected by parental imprisonment is key to breaking inter-generational offending. Here are some quotes from our children, talking about what Children Heard And Seen means to them:
- I love Children Heard and Seen because we do really fun things and I feel good talking about it in the group because it helps me with how I feel. The good thing about it is the places we go to and the things we do together. Kayim, aged 9.
- This is why we need support like the support from Children Heard and Seen to be happy. Every child should have the support we get from Children Heard and Seen. Leah, aged 8.
- The charity Children Heard and Seen has helped me realise I am not the only one going through these experiences. Luke, aged 12.
- I like coming to Children Heard and Seen because when I come here I feel supported and that I can discuss anything with them! Khizr, aged 12.
- I like Children Heard and Seen because I can talk to other people in the same situation or who had the same situation as me. I feel like I can express my feelings better now than I could before. Thanks to Children Heard and Seen I’m glad that I can be heard and understood. Jasmyn, aged 12.
If you are a parent or child that has been impacted by parental imprisonment, we would love to hear your thoughts on our calls to action, if you have ever experienced these yourselves or if you think there is something else that needs to change to ensure children with a parent in prison get the support they need. We would also love to hear from anyone who may be in a position of influence that could make some of these changes reality. For us, we all know the statistics and negative outcomes that relate to children with a parent in prison, and now is the time for policy to be changed.